What is the purpose of studying?

My child is still young, but I think that as they grow up, they will eventually ask me this.

"What is the point of studying, anyway?"

Sometimes I wonder how I will answer them when that day comes.

To get into a good school.
To avoid trouble in the future.
To have more career options.

None of these are wrong.

But it feels a bit sad if that is all there is to it.

Studying is something you endure for the sake of the future.
A toll you pay to become an adult.

I feel like that is how it might sound to them.

Parents naturally want to help their children increase what they can do.

I want my child to be someone who is capable of many things.

Someone who can think for themselves.
Someone who can ask for help when they are in trouble.
Someone who can find what they love and make their own choices.

That is why I believe studying is important.

If you can read, you can look up things you don't know on your own.
If you can do math, you can analyze data at work.
If you know history, you understand that the world today didn't just appear out of nowhere.
If you know science, you can see the rain, the stars, and your own body in a slightly different light.

Studying is not just about getting a checkmark on a test.
I believe it is about gradually expanding your own world.

So that you don't have to be ashamed of not knowing

Children often ask, "Why?"

Why is the sky blue?
Why did the dinosaurs disappear?
Why do people die?

Sometimes, adults cannot answer right away.
But it is surely important to keep asking "Why?" without finding it a bother.

Studying is not just about memorizing the correct answers.

When faced with something you don't understand,
it is also about being able to think, "I'll look into it a bit," instead of just saying, "I don't get it, so I'll quit."

It is not shameful to not know something.
We learn so that we do not remain in ignorance.

I feel that this attitude becomes a strength that children can use throughout their lives, even after they become adults.

Parents also turn studying into "scores"

However, it is difficult once you become a parent.

Test scores.
Homework.

Inevitably, we become concerned with things that are visible.

"Did you do it properly?"
"You got this wrong."
"Can't you finish it faster?"

Even though we say these things thinking it is for the child's sake, before we know it, studying can become something done just to avoid being scolded.

It becomes hard to say you don't understand.
You become afraid of making mistakes.
You start wanting to hide what you cannot do.

That is probably the thing we want to avoid the most.

Studying is not inherently meant for blaming your "incompetent self."
It is for learning one thing today that you did not know yesterday.
It is for gradually becoming able to do things you could not do yesterday.

That is how it should be.

Sometimes studying is not immediately useful

If a child asks me, I would probably want to say this:
"Not everything will be immediately useful."

After becoming an adult, there may be few situations where you use exactly what you learned in school.

But there are also things that cannot be measured solely by whether they are useful.
Being able to imagine the meaning when you encounter an unknown word.
Being able to think about what someone is saying without taking it at face value.
Being able to imagine, even a little, the feelings of someone who is troubled.
Not immediately dismissing a way of thinking that is different from your own.

Studying may not just be about increasing the number of answers, but also about gaining the power to understand the world.

Before telling your child to "study"

Of course, it doesn't go that smoothly every day.

If they don't do their homework, I want to say something.
If they are only playing games, I get anxious.
If they are playing even though a test is coming up, I will speak up.

I am sure I would say it too.

"Why don't you study first?"
"Why don't you do a little more?"

But before that, I want to think about it for a moment.

What is it that this child doesn't understand right now?
Do they dislike studying itself?
Are they afraid of thinking they can't do it?
Or are they simply tired?

If parents could look a little deeper into the feelings behind "Go study."
Studying might become a little less scary.

Learning exists so that you can choose your own life.

Studying is not just about getting good grades.
It is so you don't just believe what someone else tells you.
It is to verify things you don't understand for yourself.
It is to think for yourself when you are in trouble.
And it is so that you can choose your own life for yourself.

I believe that is what it is for.

If your child ever asks,
"What is the purpose of studying?"

I might not be able to give a perfect answer yet.

But,
I want to tell them, "I think it's to expand your world and increase the things you can choose for yourself."

It is okay if those words don't reach them right away.
When the child someday wants to know something,
or when they are choosing something.

If they remember it even a little bit, I think that is enough.